Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Online Killed the Video Star?


In these tough economic times, everyone is looking to cut corners and save a few bucks. No doubt, multicultural audiences who are some of the hardest hit are taking a really close look at every expense. One that seems like a luxury is cable. I pay over $100 a month....for hundreds of channels where ironically I can never find anything worth watching!!

I've mentioned in the past that Hispanics trail the general market in cable penetration - primarily because we live in relatively flat cities like LA and Dallas to name just a couple.

Telemundo shared some data today that said that Hispanics were considering cutting premium channels like HBO and Showtime. But, I started thinking...why end there? With sites like Youtube and Hulu.com (a joint venture between NBC and Fox) attracting millions of video viewers - isn't online video the proverbial TV killer?

Nielsen reported that last year, Americans watched on average 5 hours of TV a day! (I don't have that much time, do you?) Well, apparently the average American does. But, internet users watched 14.3 billion online videos in December 2008, that's up 41% from a year earlier.

With busy schedules because of family and personal commitments and for those of us fortunate to still have jobs - television schedules can be rather rigid. But with online video, you can watch your favorite shows whenever you want - on demand. Yes, I know, DVR is better...does the same thing and you avoid those annoying Hawii Tourism Board ads on Hulu.com, but still. DVR is an added expense...internet video is free. Is it just a matter of time before internet video gives cable a deafening blow?

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